1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawer-type heating cooker capable of pulling out and pushing a drawer body from and into a cooker body, an opening portion of a heating chamber being able to be closed by an opening and closing door in a state in which the drawer body is housed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, drawer-type heating cookers have been proposed, which allow a drawer body for placing a heated object therein to be pulled out from a cooker body together with an opening and closing door, and also allow an opening portion of a heating chamber in the cooker body to be closed by the opening and closing door in a pushed-in state in which the drawer body is housed in the heating chamber (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-45820, page 2, lower left column, line 6 to page 3, upper right column, line 16, FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, [Patent Document 1]; and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-237053, paragraphs [0029] to [0032] and FIG. 1 [Patent Document 2]). This kind of drawer-type heating cooker includes: an apparatus body (cooker body) having a cooking chamber (heating chamber) that accommodates a heated object; an opening and closing door that blocks the cooking chamber from external air; and a bottom plate or a heating container (drawer body) allowing the heated object to be placed therein which is connected to this opening and closing door. More specifically, the bottom plate or heating container slides smoothly by means of slide mechanisms, and as a result of the rotation output of a motor being transferred to the slide mechanism via a transfer means, such as a rack-and-pinion mechanism, the bottom plate or heating container can be moved in a direction that it is pulled out or pushed into the apparatus body. In a state in which the bottom plate or heating container is housed in the apparatus body, the opening and closing door blocks the cooking chamber from external air. In the heating cooker described in Patent Document 2, electric wave leakage is prevented by forming a heating chamber that confines microwaves therein by means of covering, with a lid portion, an opening in a heating container having the opening at its upper portion, the heating container being able to be pulled out from a cooker body, and providing a choke groove between the peripheral portion of the opening of the heating chamber and the lid portion.
As stated above, in a drawer-type heating cooker, food, which is a heated object, can easily be put in and taken out by making the drawer body connected to the door perform an electric opening/closing operation, and compared to conventional heating cookers in which a door is manually opened and closed, the drawer-type heating cooker provides superior convenience. However, conventionally, almost all of the household electric appliances installed in a kitchen, such as a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a microwave oven, are opened/closed by their doors being opened/closed via a user's manipulation force, and users are not familiar with electric opening/closing operations, so considerations are necessary for safety.
For example, with the automatic opening and closing door mechanism in the above-mentioned conventional drawer-type heating cooker, a user that handles the cooker with being conscious of automatic opening/closing can expect the generation of an opening/closing operation, but people other than the user would encounter an unexpected opening/closing operation. Also, when the user himself/herself unconsciously performs an opening/closing operation, he/she would encounter an unexpected opening/closing operation.
In those cases, since the drawer body, which has a relatively large mass, is moved, a hand or finger or the like may be get stuck with the opening and closing door when the opening and closing door is closed, or a body portion may be hit by the opening and closing door without knowing the opening and closing door movement.
Also, necessary open distance and opening/closing speed for an opening and closing door differs depending on the use conditions, such as the installation position of the heating cooker, or the user's life style, or the properties of the heated object, such as the size of the heated object or the easiness of overflowing from the container, so there has been the demand for informing the user of the opening/closing operation conditions for the opening and closing door.
With regard to generating a warning sound when a pulling-out operation is performed, although the technical field is different, an image recording device that generates a pulling-out operation warning sound has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-175746, paragraph [0019] and FIG. 7 [Patent Document 3]). In other words, when an empty state of a hopper or a full state of a stacker, the hopper or stacker accommodating a recording material such as a recording paper, is detected, an operation for pulling the hopper or stacker out is performed, and at that time, a warning sound generation means, such as a buzzer, is activated to inform the operator of the respective state, and to call attention to the peripheral area of the hopper or stacker during the pulling-out operation.
With regard to a method for setting alarm sounds in a household electric apparatus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-101796 (Patent Document 4) proposes a technique for defining plural kinds of alarm sounds for plural apparatuses, the alarm sounds being able to be clearly distinguished from each other by providing sound elements that are different from each other, such as rhythm, tone scale or inflection, with the alarm sounds.
Accordingly, drawer-type heating cookers have a problem to be solved in calling attention to the operating and closing door movement from a person operating the automatic opening and closing door as well as other people around the drawer-type heating cooker during the operation of the opening and closing door.